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FIRST CLASS NEWSLETTER OF THE Jacksonville, Illinois 62650-2590 MacMurray College English Department Allan Metcalf, Executive Secretary AMERICAN DIALECT SOCIETY NADS 32.2

Vol. 32, No. 2 May 2000 2 • Regional Meetings, Fall 2000 3 • Last Call for 2001 Annual Meeting 3 • ADS at MLA Too 3 • Nominations Invited 4 • Briefing in Washington 5•In Memory of Fred Cassidy 12 • Yes, A Few T-Shirts Left 13 • DSNA Deadline Announced 13 • NWAV To Meet in October 14 • What We Learned at ACLS 15 • New Books by ADS Members 16 • DARE Queries No. 48

NADS is sent in January, May and September to all ADS members. Send news and queries to editor and executive secretary Allan Metcalf, English De- partment, MacMurray College, Jacksonville, Illinois 62650, phone (217) 479-7117 or (217) 243-3403, e- mail [email protected]. Annual membership is $35, students $20; plus $5 outside the United States. See Page 3 for membership address. ADS Web site (Grant Barrett, webmaster): http://www.americandialect.org/ ADS-L discussion list: To join, send to [email protected] the message: Sub ADS-L Your Name ADS REGIONAL MEETINGS Rocky Mountain $20 students (no papers). Membership in MMLA is In association with RMMLA, Oct. 12-14; Boise, $25 full and associate professors, $20 other faculty, Idaho, Grove Hotel. $15 students. Write MMLA, 302 English-Philoso- Chair: Glenn A. Martinez, Kenyon College. phy Bldg., U. of Iowa, Iowa City IA 52242-1408; 1. “A Texas Tug of Words: Archaisms and Angli- phone (319) 335-0331; [email protected]; cisms in 19th Century South Texas Spanish.” Glenn www.uiowa.edu/~mmla/. Martinez, Kenyon Coll. Future meeting: 2001 Nov. 1–3 Cleveland, 2. “Tonemes in Norwegian-American Dialects.” Sheraton City Centre Hotel. Mary Morzinski, U. of Wisconsin-La Crosse. South Central 3. “I Said ‘They Was Gormed Fool’: Angela In association with SCMLA, Nov. 9-11; San An- Thirkell’s Reactionist Politics.” Helen Taylor, Loui- tonio, Camberley Gunter Hotel. siana State U.–Shreveport. Chair: Lori Boykin, West Texas A&M Univ. ADS Regional Secretary 2000-2001: Mary E. 1. “French and English Dialects as Markers of Morzinski, Dept. of English, Univ. of Wisconsin-La Social and Economic Solidarity and Status in Kate Crosse, La Crosse WI 54601; phone (609) 785-8300, Chopin’s ‘At Fault.’” David J. Caudle, U. of North fax (608) 785-8301; [email protected]. Texas. Membership in RMMLA is $30 individual, $20 2. “Phonological and Lexical Choices in student. Write RMMLA, Washington State Univ., Marthaville, Louisiana, Natives.” Kristoffer Hailey, P.O. Box 642610, Pullman WA 99164-2610; Northwestern State U. [email protected]; http://rmmla.wsu.edu/ 3. “Some Sources of Nonstandard English.” Jan rmmla/; phone (509) 335-4198, fax (509) 335-6635 Tillery and Guy Bailey, U. of Texas, San Antonio. ext. 54198. ADS Regional Secretary 1999-2000: Charles B. Future meeting: 2001 Oct. 11–13 Vancouver, Martin, Dept. of English, Univ. of North Texas, Sheraton Wall Centre. P.O. Box 13827, Denton TX 76203-3827; phone Midwest (817) 565-2149, [email protected]. In association with MMLA, Nov. 2-4; Kansas Membership in SCMLA is $30 full professors, City, Missouri, Hyatt Regency Crown Center. $25 associate and assistant professors, $20 instruc- Organizer: Beth Lee Simon, Indiana U.–Purdue tors and students. Write SCMLA Membership Secre- U. Fort Wayne. tary, Texas A&M Univ., Dept. of English, College 1. “The Non-rhotic Film Pronunciation of Fred Station TX 77843-4227; phone (979) 845-7041; fax Astaire and Ginger Rogers, or Why He Gives Her (979) 862-2292; www-english.tamu.edu/scmla/; Class and She Gives Him Sex.” Nancy C. Elliott, [email protected]. Southern Oregon U. Future Meeting: 2001 Nov. 1–3 Tulsa, Down- 2. “‘Too good for me, but I’ll drink it anyway’: town Doubletree Hotel. Discourse Strategies of Appalachian Dialect Re- South Atlantic vealed in Charles Frazier’s Cold Mountain.” In association with SAMLA, Nov. 10-12; Bir- Stephanie J. Hysmith, Ohio U. mingham, AL, Sheraton Civic Center. 3. “Some Evidence of Concentration in the Rural The of Cross-Cultural Communication. Midland Dialect in Illinois.” Timothy Frazer, West- Chair: Margaret Lee, Dept. of English, Hampton ern Illinois U. Univ., Hampton VA 23668; [email protected]. Discussant: Thomas Murray, Kansas State Uni- 1. “‘They Were Stupid’: HUD’s Failed Creole versity. Brochure Rezedents Rights & Rispansabilities” (20 ADS Regional Secretary 1999–2000: Beth Lee min.). Wayne Glowka and Elijah Scott, Georgia Simon, Dept. of English and Linguistics, IPFW, Fort College & State U. Wayne IN 46805-1499; [email protected]. 2. “‘De Ole Time Talk We Still de Talkum Here’: Registration is $40 regular (includes 18 papers), (Please turn to Page 13) 2 / NADS 32.2 May 2000 ADS ANNUAL MEETING August 14: Abstracts Due for Annual Meeting Aug.14 is the deadline for proposals for the ADS Annual Meeting in Washington, D.C. January 4–7, 2001. Send them to Executive Secretary Allan Metcalf, preferably by e-mail: [email protected]. We’re flexible about length and format. If your proposal is accepted, you’ll be asked for an abstract of no more than 200 words for the LSA program. Include a list of the AV equipment you will need for your presentation. And if your abstract contains phonetic/phonemic transcription, please include a translation, since many such symbols will be lost in the numerous systems involved in handing your abstract around (e.g., write “angma,” “wedge,” “mid-front lax,” and so on). We will do our very best to produce correct symbols in the both the LSA and NADS programs. All proposals will be reviewed by Dennis Preston, our Vice President and program chair. If you have an idea for a special session or something out of the ordinary, don’t wait till the deadline to get in touch with him: [email protected]. Hotel: As before, we will be guests of the Linguistic Society of America, expected to pay their registration but also entitled to their special hotel rates: $99 single or double at the Grand Hyatt Washington (1000 H Street NW, Washington Center, Washington, DC 20001; (202) 582-1234, fax (202) 637-4781). Presidential Honors Committee Invites Nominations Propose a student for a four-year complimentary For terms of office starting in 2001, the ADS Presidential Honorary Membership with a letter of Nominating Committee will be proposing candidates recommendation to ADS President Ronald Butters, for vice president (succeeding to the presidency two English Dept., Duke Univ., Box 90018, Durham NC years later), Executive Council member, and Nomi- 27708-0018, [email protected]. nating Committee member at large. Suggestions are ADS at MLA welcome, either of others or of your own willingness to serve. “Teaching ” is the theme for Send your ideas to the committee chair, past ADS two ADS two sessions at the Modern Language As- President Lawrence M. Davis, Dept. of English, sociation meeting in Washington, D.C. December Wichita State Univ., Wichita KS 67260-0014, 27–30. Organizer and chair: Michael Adams, [email protected]. Or communicate with Albright College. First session: the other members of the committee: Past President 1. “Goals and Teaching English Language Walt Wolfram, North Carolina State U., or elected Classes.” Sonja L. Lanehart, U. of Georgia. member Natalie Maynor, Mississippi State U. 2. “The Politics of Teaching Standard English.” Anne Curzan, U. of Washington. Membership & Dues 3. “Teaching American English on the Web.” Membership in the American Dialect Soci- William A. Kretzschmar, Jr., U. of Georgia. ety brings you our journal Second session: with its monograph supplement Publication of 1. “Teaching American English in France.” Lois the American Dialect Society, not to mention Nathan, U. du Havre. this newsletter three times a year. Dues for 2. “Teaching ‘Bad’ American English: Profanity 2000 are $35, students $20, plus $5 extra for and Other ‘Bad’ Words in the Liberal Arts Setting.” members outside the United States. Life Mem- Michael Adams, Albright College. bership is available for $700. Address: 3. “Two Countries ‘Divided by a Common Lan- Cindy Foltz, Journals Fulfillment, Duke guage’: British and American English in the Class- University Press, Box 90660, Durham, NC room.” Leonard R.N. Ashley, CUNY–Brooklyn 27708-0660; phone 1-888-387-5765 or 919- College. 687-3613; fax 1-919-688-2615; All who attend must register for the MLA meet- [email protected]. ing. See www.mla.org.

NADS 32.2 May 2000 / 3 CONGRESSIONAL BRIEFING Washington Listens to Linguists By Kirk Hazen and Ron Butters On May 8, 2000, at the Longworth House Office Although some original research results were pre- Building in Washington, DC, a panel of experts on sented by panelists, there was little new or surprising language and learning conducted a congressional for audience members trained as anthropologists, lin- briefing before a full-house audience of some 70-80 guists, and teachers of second languages. Rather, the scholars and representatives from several congres- purpose was to carry the message to Congress and sional offices, the NSF, NEH, NIH, and other lan- government agencies in discourse that for the most guage-policy agencies. This seminar was sponsored part avoided the cross-purposed rhetoric of recent by the Consortium of Social Science Associations, educational controversies (e.g., the Ann Arbor deci- the Linguistic Society of America, and the Center for sion, the Ebonics flap, the English-only debate): sec- Applied Linguistics, with a number of cosponsors ond-language acquisition is vital for all American including the American Anthropological Associa- children, speakers of English and non-speakers alike; tion, Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Lan- monolingual (and monodialectal) English education guages, and our own American Dialect Society defies both scientific theory and common sense; (whose immediate past president, Walt Wolfram, reading education must build on what the student originated the idea for the meeting). already knows of language. On the program were CAL president Donna And as Labov noted, there are still a large number Christian, moderator, and panelists Lily Wong of questions that (perhaps surprisingly) require fur- Fillmore (Berkeley), Maria Estela Brisk (Boston ther research: College), and William Labov (Penn). —For bilingual children, does learning to read ADS past president John Baugh (Stanford) gave first in Spanish really accelerate learning to read in the concluding remarks, followed by a lively ques- English? tion-and-answer session. It was a sunny day and the —To what extent do dialect differences account room was so Southern Hot that the chocolate in the for reading problems? otherwise-perfect cookies melted. But the Sprites —How can methods of teaching reading be and Diet Cokes were nicely chilled. adapted to take cultural differences into account and Professor Fillmore discussed the importance of reduce conflict in the classroom? the role of linguists in training future teachers and Official ADS representatives Ron Butters (presi- some of the political impacts on bilingual education. dent) and Kirk Hazen (executive committee mem- Professor Brisk expounded on the best methods for ber) were in attendance; other ADS members in the teaching a second language and asked that educa- audience included Natalie Schilling-Estes and Walt tional support be given to bilinguals in monolingual Wolfram. communities so that they can actively maintain their Several of the sponsoring agencies made sample bilingualism in academic endeavors. Professor copies of their publications available to those in at- Labov emphasized the importance of linguists and tendance; all fifty copies of American Speech were linguistics in the teaching of literacy, especially to snapped up. From a strictly self-interested point of students in the inner cities of America, where read- view, then, the Congressional Briefing certainly gen- ing failure rates are often the highest. erated worthwhile publicity for the ADS. Professor Baugh supplied the audience a unifying More important, this was a rare occasion for rea- metaphor fitting our Congressional context: since all soned, largely apolitical discussion by scholars for the respondents spoke of respect for language varia- laypersons on a nexus of subjects that have in the tion, Baugh pointed out that Congress itself is a good past often created great high passions with little real model for schools since many different language va- understanding. To that extent, this foray into applied rieties come together under one dome but civility and linguistics was a good investment of ADS sponsor- respect are the common order. ship.

4 / NADS 32.2 May 2000 FRED CASSIDY IN MEMORIAM A Scholar for All Seasons FREDERIC GOMES CASSIDY OCTOBER 10, 1907 – JUNE 14, 2000 He was a scholar, and a ripe and good one; Exceeding wise, fair-spoken, and persuading, And to those men that sought him, sweet as summer. —William Shakespeare, Henry VIII By John Algeo On a summer Sunday, June 18, 2000, family, friends, and colleagues of Fred Cassidy gathered in Madison, Wisconsin, in a “Feast for the Spirit,” re- membering Fred’s “Good and Full Life” and rejoic- ing in their memories. There was music of diverse styles, including a Trinidadian steel-band rendition of “Yellow Bird” and a traditional melody in one of Fred’s favorite hymns: All things bright and beautiful, All creatures great and small, All things wise and wonderful, The Lord God made them all. There was poetry: “Jabberwocky” by Lewis Carroll, “Let Us Now Praise Famous Men” in a contemporary version of Ecclesiasticus, “Loveliest of Trees” by A. E. Housman, “When I Have Fears” by John Keats, “Peace, My Heart” by Rabindranath University of Wisconsin-Madison Professor Tagore, “Crossing the Bar” by Alfred, Lord Frederic G. Cassidy, editor-in-chief of the Dictio- Tennyson, and — “Back Home” by F. G. Cassidy. nary of American Regional English, died June 14 of There were appreciations by Joan Houston Hall, complications following a stroke. He was 92. Fred’s collaborator and DARE editorial heir; by Au- He remained active until the end, spending the gust Rubrecht, one of the early fieldworkers in the day before his May 11 stroke in his university office. DARE word-wagons; and by several members of His family has asked that remembrances be sent Fred’s family. There were reflections by Fred’s uni- to The Frederic G. Cassidy DARE Fund, The Uni- versity colleague Donald Rowe, who also mastered versity of Wisconsin, 6131 Helen White Hall, 600 the ceremonies with grace and sensitivity. There was North Park Street, Madison, WI 53706. sharing by other family members, neighbors, former students, colleagues, and friends. trated by the kindness of lift-givers, until Fred finally The recollections could make a book, all showing actually boarded a bus, whose driver then departed the many sides of Fred and the affection and admira- from his normal route by several blocks to drop Fred tion in which he was universally held. To mention right at the door of Helen White Hall. only a few, Joan Hall told of Fred’s love of fast Tom Herron, who was Fred’s young housemate at driving, which could terrify his passengers, and of the end of his life, told of their conversations about his resolve late in life to give all that up and instead the lovely past, including Fred’s account of his hon- take public transportation from his house to the Uni- eymoon in 1931, which was spent in a pup tent on a versity, a determination that was repeatedly frus- (Please turn to Page 6)

NADS 32.2 May 2000 / 5 FRED CASSIDY IN MEMORIAM A Scholar for All Seasons “I Should Look That Up” (Continued from Page 5) By Joan H. Hall riverbank, with Fred reading Milton to his bride, I first heard of Fred Cassidy in 1968 when I was a Hélène. very green graduate student at Emory University in A grandson, Nicholas Cassidy, told of Fred’s Atlanta, Georgia. I had fallen into a linguistics leading him (one gathers somewhat unwillingly) on course quite by accident, and I heard about an amaz- a lecture tour through a graveyard in Jamaica, when ing project going on in Madison, Wisconsin, with the they were accosted by a small band of robbers. In- strange but intriguing acronym of DARE. At the time stead of knuckling under, Fred, incensed at being I thought, “Wouldn’t it be fantastic to be part of that interrupted while educating the boy in serious mat- some day?” ters, ran first at and then after the would-be hold-up A couple of years later my advisor hosted a party men, waving his arms and berating them in their own for people who had come to a linguistic geography Jamaican Creole. The would-be robbers fled igno- conference in Atlanta. I knew that Fred would be miniously out of the graveyard. there, and planned to introduce myself and let him After the music, poetry, and prose, came lovely know of my interest in his project. But I was quite refreshments and conversation. It was an event Fred awed by all the big names who were there and I would have loved. The tone of the afternoon was set never got up the courage to speak to any of them. I by an epigram from Vladimir Nabokov: “Life is a wish I had known then that it wouldn’t have been great surprise. I do not see why death should not be hard; I shouldn’t have been intimidated by any of an even greater one.” Fred’s life was full of music, them, least of all by Fred Cassidy. poetry, refreshment, conversation, and surprises—all As it happened, a few years later I was finishing of them sweet as summer. my dissertation at the same time that Fred was ready Crossing the Bar to start the actual editing of DARE. My advisor wrote By Donald Lance a letter on my behalf and Fred hired me, sight un- It was a sad pleasure to read Tennyson’s “Cross- seen. ing the Bar” at the memorial service for Fred Cassidy Right away I discovered that here was a man who on June 18 in Madison, but knowing that it was one was, by nature, supremely optimistic as well as of Fred’s favorite poems made the poem and the cheerful, hardworking, and intellectually curious. reading especially meaningful. That optimism was a crucial part of DARE’s success The chapel was filled to capacity with the great when we encountered serious funding problems variety of friends, family, and neighbors that inhabit along the way. The curiosity was satisfied by his the bourne from which he had recently departed. In mantra, “I should look that up.” And he did. the cycles of tides that had passed since Fred’s DARE staff soon learned that coffee breaks could evening star set on June 14, we all had rehearsed be the source of amazing new tidbits of information. over and over our small roles in the good and full life One day Fred was telling of having moved from of this man who had accomplished so much in the Jamaica to Akron in 1918 and finding a yard full of professional and personal components of his sojourn ripe strawberries. He had read in English books of 92+ years in this world of things bright and beauti- about strawberries and cream but had never tasted ful. one. He lay down on his belly with his face in the His spirit, his smile, his twinkling eyes, and his plants, picking and eating as fast as he could. Won- gentle way of encouraging others—especially those derful! This particular yard also had a patch of cur- younger than he—were recurring themes in the rant bushes. He knew currants from Jamaica as the words of appreciation offered in the service. There dried fruits that went into a fruitcake. He liked those. was no moaning at the bar—just rejoicing in the So he tried the fresh currants too—what a horrible bounty we have received from this great prince of surprise! “That was a taste that took getting used to,” words and will receive for years to come. he said. “And, by the way, do you know the etymol-

6 / NADS 32.2 May 2000 FRED CASSIDY IN MEMORIAM Memories of Frederic Cassidy: Support and a Twinkle ogy of currant? It’s from Corinth—C-o-r-i-n-t-h, or got lost, . . and decided to go up and over (rather than with a K, of course, in Greek.” the stodgy, which Fred was never for, “around”). As Fred was an amazing storehouse of knowledge, we came to the end of the road and I started to turn but he was not purely high-brow. He loved being part back, Fred hopped out of the car, opened the sheep of his play-reading group, he wrote poetry that could gate, and waved us through. ‘Got to be a way down,’ be silly as well as serious, he delighted in good puns said the only person (other than Santa Claus) I ever and clever limericks, he was a fantastic whistler, and saw who actually had a twinkle in his eye. A little any day was a good day for Fred if it started with a later we came down on the other side, the bright banana. lights of Bangor in the distance.” Reminiscences that have come pouring in from The image of Fred waving the car through the colleagues and former students in the last few days sheep gate brings to mind the picture of Fred behind have had two consistent themes: One was that he was the wheel of his little blue VW. All of the DARE staff extremely supportive of younger scholars. The num- (and probably much of Madison as well) can testify ber of people around the country and around the that Fred loved to drive—fast—and that it could world who consider Fred their mentor is a strong sometimes be a little scary to be in the passenger testament to his success as a teacher. seat. Bob Wachal, now retired from the University of Our first program officer from NEH likes to tell Iowa, wrote, “He had the wonderful gift of letting the story of coming here for a site visit and going out you go with an idea and not overmentor you. When to lunch with Fred. George Farr is a tall man, and he you were his research assistant, he let you do your had to fold up his legs to fit into the little car. As they work, not his; a fact that occasionally got him into emerged from the lower parking lot Fred sped to- trouble with small-minded deanlets.” ward the exit gate. Not knowing that Fred had it Dennis Baron, of the University of Illinois, said, timed perfectly so that he could sneak under just as “Fred was generous with his praise. . . and he told me the gate rose, George gave a squawk, ducked, and with tact and force exactly where I had gone off hid his head in his arms, sure they were going to track. . . [H]e always encouraged my work, even crash. They both laughed about that for years. when he disagreed with my conclusions.” So when Fred finally had to give up his driver’s And Patricia VanDyke, a Fieldworker for DARE license a couple of years ago it was with real regret. who is now at Northwest Missouri State University, It meant that he had to depend on others, which he wrote: “In my mind’s eye, I can see Professor didn’t like to do. Most of the time, Mike Cassidy, or Cassidy as he was more than thirty years ago. He had Tom Herron, or DARE staff members could take him a wonderful way of inclining his head toward those where he needed to go. But at one point he decided who met him in the hallways of Bascom. His eyes he ought to learn how to use the bus system. And I would relay the pleasure of the meeting, and he tell this story only to demonstrate the charisma this would smile warmly. Others might have had projects man exhibited even in his 92nd year. and publications that took them toward abstractions/ There is a bus stop not too far from his house, so polysyllabics/ somewhere else in the human land- Fred walked there and waited for a bus. A car scape. But the boss was always engaged with who- stopped and asked if he wouldn’t like a ride. Fine! ever was coming down the hall at the time.” Fred didn’t recognize the driver, but the driver prob- The other theme that resonated through the corre- ably knew full well who he was, and took him spondence was the twinkle in Fred’s eye. A message straight to Helen White Hall. The next time Fred from Dennis Preston, at Michigan State University, went to the bus stop, a truck driver stopped, offered recalls the time at a conference in Bangor, Wales, in him a lift, and deposited him at our doorstep. The 1987, when he and Fred and others went for a drive third time, Fred arrived just as a bus was pulling up. “to the boondocks, which Fred and I both liked. We He got on, sat behind the driver, and engaged him in

NADS 32.2 May 2000 / 7 FRED CASSIDY IN MEMORIAM “On to Z!” DIALECT2000 in Belfast conversation. At some point the driver asked where The sixth international conference on the lan- he was going. “To Helen White Hall,” said Fred. guages of Scotland and Ulster, August 9–11, and the Without blinking, the driver went a good four blocks second international conference on the languages of off his route and dropped him in front of Helen Ireland, August 14–16, will be incorporated in the White Hall. DIALECT2000 conference August 9–16 at the Everybody liked Fred because Fred liked every- Queen’s University of Belfast. body. (I know of only one exception: he detested Joe Dr. John M. Kirk and Prof. Dónall Ó Baoill are McCarthy, and the only time he got politically in- the organizers. See the website at http:// volved was to circulate petitions to try to remove the www.qub.ac.uk/english/lang/Conferences/ Senator from office.) Fred Cassidy leaves a huge Dialect2000.htm or write DIALECT2000, School of hole in the lives of his family, in the University, in English , Queen’s University Belfast, Belfast BT7 Madison, in the linguistics community, and particu- 1NN, Northern Ireland; [email protected]; tel. larly at DARE. I know that I speak for the entire staff (+)44 (0)28 9027 3815. when I say that we are proud to be associated with Saturday August 12 will be devoted to a sympo- the project, honored to have known him, grateful for sium on Language, Politics and Ethnolinguistics, the opportunities he gave us, and determined to carry emphasizing ethnolinguistics within a political ac- out his dream. On to Z! commodation of equality. Lessons to Remember from a Fine Teacher By Salikoko Mufwene I met Fred Cassidy at a conference of the Society and esteemed colleague of mine and I will some day for Caribbean Linguistics in Aruba in 1980. I was make the time to honor Fred with such an essay. then testing the new waters of creole studies, kind of In 1992 I had the privilege of having a paper of retooling myself after graduate training in semantics mine published in the Festschrift to him. As much as and syntax and marginal training in language contact I hailed his contribution to the debate on the develop- through a reading course. Fred was one of few ment of Gullah, I just couldn’t resist the congenital people who spoke to me after my presentation and impulse of disputing some of his positions. Fred suggested I pay more attention to subtle semantic wrote me about my paper, with thanks, and promised distinctions between constructions that appear syn- to address those issues I raised. Nobody else to onymous at first glance. His example, as I remember, whose Festschrift I have contributed has ever written was the important distinction between /mi don taak/ me and I was touched by Fred’s cooperative reac- and /mi taak don/ in Jamaican Creole. tion. What a fine teacher he must have been to those Fred was very helpful to me in subsequent years who were even closer to him! It is a shame he did not when we met at conferences, like in Jamaica in 1984, live long enough to say his last words on those is- in Barbados in 1992, and recently in London in 1997. sues. He paid careful attention to my presentations, my Like many other scholars, I have been influenced answers to questions, and to the often-aggressive by Fred’s work. Every time I open it, I discover questions I asked other presenters. He taught me the something that my mind was not ready to process on value of collaborating with colleagues who do not earlier occasions. He was eclectic and so receptive to share my positions and to realize that sometimes the new ideas. He was so supportive of younger schol- differences in our views are not as big as they seem. ars. His encouragements meant a world to me. In 1997 he even suggested that one such colleague Well, Fred, you are gone and have left us so sad. and I get together and write an essay on those spe- On the other hand, look what important legacy you cific issues where we disagree, at least as an exercise have bequeathed all of us. DARE is only part of a in articulating our positions clearly to each other and long litany of accomplishments. I am very grateful bridging our differences. I hope this so-far nameless and I’ll miss you.

8 / NADS 32.2 May 2000 FRED CASSIDY IN MEMORIAM In Memoriam: Frederic Gomes Cassidy There were giants in the earth in those days. ‘human-heartedness’. He was a Mensch. He (Genesis 6.4) mentored (to use a currently fashionable neologism) several generations of budding scholars, sometimes By John Algeo in ways he was not even aware of. If I may be forgiven a bit of personal reminiscence, I can cite Fred Cassidy belonged to a select tribe of twenti- myself as one who was deeply influenced by Fred, eth-century scholars of American English respected even though my contact with him was usually at for the depth of their knowledge, admired for the some distance and only sporadic. In fact, he was key breadth of their interests, and loved for the humane- to two turning points in my life, so I have always ness of their natures. Their names roll off one’s regarded him as an academic godfather. tongue like a Carl Sandberg poem or a magical in- I first met Fred between the pages of a book. On cantation: beginning graduate studies at the University of Clarence Barnhart, Charles Fries Florida, the first course I took was the History of the Margaret Bryant, Philip Gove English Language, for which the textbook was Arthur Kennedy, Louise Pound, Cassidy’s revision of Stuart Robertson’s Develop- Albert Marckwardt, Kemp Malone, ment of Modern English. I had been enticed into Raven McDavid, Thomas Pyles, graduate school by Tom Pyles’s Words and Ways of James McMillan, Allen Walker Read. American English and was decisively converted to In beginning such a list, the maker finds himself the study of the English language by Cassidy- in the quandary of the Oxford divinity student whose Robertson. That was the first turning point. final examination had only one question: “Distin- Some years later, when I was seeking asylum guish between the major and minor prophets.” After from Graduate School administration at the Univer- some deep thought, the student answered the ques- sity of Florida by accepting a professorship at the tion with tact and concision. He wrote: “Far be it University of Georgia, I had a call from Fred. He was from me to draw invidious distinctions among holy chairing a committee concerned with the future of men.” If a favorite name is missing from my list, the journal American Speech, then unconnected with attribute the lack, not to an invidious distinction, but the American Dialect Society but published by Co- causa pro metrica. There can be, however, no ques- lumbia University Press. The magazine was nearly tions that among the majorest of the prophets of our three years in arrears of publication and seemed des- tribe is Fred Cassidy. tined for desuetude. ADS members who were con- Born in Kingston, Jamaica, Fred immigated with cerned about its prospective loss to the tribe had his family to the United States on the eve of his teen arranged with Columbia UP to assume responsibility years. After attending Oberlin College and the Uni- for the journal and its editorship. Fred wondered if I versity of Michigan (Ph.D. 1938), he joined the fac- would like to become its first ADS editor. I had no ulty of the University of Wisconsin, where he cel- editorial experience, no periodical experience, and ebrated the anniversary of his 120th term (or 60th little else to recommend me. But I said yes, and that year) in 1999. His scholarly work embraced many was a second turning point in my life. subjects, including Anglo-Saxon, English composi- I cite Fred’s influence on my life only as an ex- tion, Jamaican English, the place names of Dane ample I know well of what I also know to be his County, fieldwork for the Linguistic Atlas, and of much wider influence on the lives of many. As a course preeminently the Dictionary of American Re- person, Fred was just as genuine as he was as a gional English. scholar. But it is his scholarship that crowns his Fred was, however, not only a scholar; he was public achievements, and the jewel in that crown is also a person of charm, generosity, culture, and the Dictionary of American Regional English. I was gemütlichkeit. He had what the Chinese call jen, or at the ADS meeting in the bosom of the MLA when

NADS 32.2 May 2000 / 9 FRED CASSIDY IN MEMORIAM If You Seek a Monument, DARE It Is (Continued from Page 9) of the tribe. Now well beyond the halfway point of Fred delivered a paper that sounded the clarion call its completion, DARE is blessed by being in the for that work. He said that it was time for the ADS to charge of another beneficiary of Fred’s mentoring. make good on its early but thus far unfulfilled inten- Joan Hall, in recent years Fred’s coeditor, is ex- tions to publish an American dialect dictionary. And cellently qualified to bring DARE to its completion, he had a plan. and all devotees of DARE and friends of Fred antici- Today the three published volumes of DARE pate the joy of that happy event. The Dictionary of speak eloquently in testimony to the wisdom and American Regional English is the most significant realism of Fred’s plan. DARE is for the twentieth- work of scholarship ever associated with the Ameri- and twenty-first-century study of nonstandard variet- can Dialect Society, it is a premier contribution to the ies of American English what the original OED was study of the English language in America, and it is a for the nineteenth- and twentieth-century study of monument to Fred Cassidy. Age will not wither it, the standard variety of British English. It is a major nor custom stale its infinite variety. Of DARE, we work of scholarship. It is the fulfillment of a vocation can say to Fred: And thou in this shalt find thy monument, Back Home When tyrants’ crests and tombs of brass are spent. By Frederic G. Cassidy, 1994 Indeed, there were giants in the earth in those I’ve been places, places, traveled days. We have known one of them. most parts of the world. Seen the great wonders of nature, of mankind A Good and Full Life that fill the eyes, shake the brain; From the program of troubled my body with heat and cold. A Feast for the Spirit of I have felt shrunken beside great Frederic Gomes Cassidy things, aroused to trembling, shivering, June 18, 2000 all my inner flesh and blood aroused Madison, Wisconsin by the need to recognize, to admit to some overwhelming force of being Life is a great surprise. I do not see why death of which I am an infinitesimal should not be an even greater one. atom, a nearly-nothing, spectral, – Vladimir Nabokov that has not forgotten the birthing-cord, the mother-tie, the separation The world is so full of a number of things, I’m that never is complete, fully complete sure we should all be as happy as kings. until we die. – R.L. Stevenson Have no regrets . . . because it For each of us there is Isn’t raining rain, you know, a corner of earth, a refuge of green trees, It’s raining violets! a cover of clean snow, rocks firmly – 1921 Pop Song heaving above the sea, unreachable horizons, small cress-grown creeks, The world is extremely interesting to a joyful hard clayey fields, that we call “home.” soul. – Alexandra Stoddard Good language is the proper raiment of good An infant grasps the hand of the old man. thought. – FGC The other grasps the earth and the waters under the earth. If true love exists From wonder into wonder, existence opens. this is a part of it. – Lao Tzu

10 / NADS 32.2 May 2000 FRED CASSIDY IN MEMORIAM Commemorating Frederic Gomes Cassidy

By August Rubrecht ciousness to you. If we totaled them up, they would amount to something not small at all. Nevertheless, June 18, 2000 let us remember these small debts one at a time, Madison, Wisconsin because we can at least measure their scope. Personally and collectively, we owe him debts on [I spoke extemporaneously, working from a men- a scale that means they could never be repaid, a scale tal outline and letting the words come as they would. that is difficult even to describe. On the personal This is not a transcript of that talk but a separate level, when he made me a fieldworker and gave me composition using the same outline. Its wording dif- the keys to a Word Wagon, he sent me off on the fers in ways to be expected for different improvisa- most memorable year of my life. Some of what I tions on the same theme, especially in different me- gathered that year became the raw material for my dia.] dissertation, making it possible for me to complete my studies and subsequently enjoy a satisfying ca- Unlike the ones who have spoken before me, I am reer as a college professor. not an intimate member of any of the circles Fred The most massive debt of all is the one all of us, belonged to. I have been on the periphery of DARE as lovers of words and the study of words, owe to since I ended my year of field work in August of him for all those years of careful, delighted attention 1968 and turned in the keys to my Word Wagon. I do to the language, the fruits of which he has be- not know his family, though I did meet his wife and queathed to us. daughter when I came to Madison to pick up the keys This occasion today provides an opportunity for to my Word Wagon in 1967. the many circles that Fred was a member of to come What I can do, I hope, is step back and give a together and intertwine. As we do, in addition to broader perspective on the man and his contributions celebrating his life and expressing our gratitude for to his many circles. the gifts he left us, we need to begin the process of This weekend should have marked the comple- closing up the gaps he left—the huge holes that Joan tion of a different sort of circle. A few years ago I mentioned earlier—in all those circles. The best way was invited to tell stories at Borders Book Shop here to close them is to share the very stuff we got from in Madison, as part of their Storytelling for Adults him, small and great, in our individual lives and in series. When Fred heard about the program, he in- the circles we belong to. vited me to come to Madison early so that we could Strangely enough, I feel I must have gotten some- visit and he could take me out to supper and then thing from him today. I went back to Borders today accompany me to Borders to show me the way. I just before the service. They had paid me for the gratefully accepted, and he stayed to hear my stories. storytelling with a gift certificate, and I was loading The part about showing me the way was especially up on books. Before coming here to the chapel, I welcome, because I always get lost in Madison. stood in the parking lot studying a map of Madison This year Borders invited me to come and tell spread out on the hood of my car. Some kind person stories again on a Friday night—night before last. It asked, “Can I help? Do you need directions?” would have been my turn to take Fred out to supper. I looked up, and in a voice full of quiet confi- Now, of course, that is a debt that will remain forever dence, said, “No thanks. I know where I am. I know unpaid. where I have to go. I’m just trying to figure out the This is a small thing—a very small thing—when best way to get there.” considered in the light of his long life and many Driving up here on my chosen route, I realized accomplishments. I am sure many of you can tell how thoroughly uncharacteristic of me that was, and similar stories about his acts of kindness and gra- how very much it sounded like Fred.

NADS 32.2 May 2000 / 11 T –SHIRTS OF THE ADS The Story of Our Second Pioneer T By Dennis Preston Even that does not adequately display her The T-shirt honoring Louise Pound (the first edi- stamina. As we see in the print chosen for our shirt, tor of American Speech and the first woman vice- Pound was no shrinking scholar. In fact, her pose president [1922-37] and president [1938-41] of ADS with her bicycle may suggest to you that she was and MLA) is the second in a series honoring our only a holiday cyclist, but nothing could be further distinguished predecessors. from the truth as regards her athletic ability. In 1912, Perhaps the best place to look first to assess the at forty years of age, she was the State importance of Louise Pound and her influence on tennis champion, in an era when all comers (men and ADS would be p. 259 of the Fall-Winter 1975 (Vol. women alike) participated for that crown. 50, Nos. 3-4) issue of AS. That entire page (spilling over into the next) is filled with a list of her contribu- Only a Few Left! tions to AS. By Dennis Preston It is not just her scholarly record and her service Yes, now by mail-order, those who did not attend to the organization which makes Professor Pound an the last two ADS Winter Meetings can have their important pioneer. Throughout the historical record very own Pioneer Series ADS T-shirts. These beauti- of the Society we find her in the foreground of influ- ful all-cotton collector’s items feature, on the front: ential initiatives. For example, in her own “A His- 1) Charles Hall Grandgent, the founder of the torical Sketch” (PADS, No. 17 [April, 1953], p. 24), Society, or we find that she was central to a redefinition of the 2) Louise Pound, the founder of American Society’s focus, one which holds to this day: Speech. It seemed to me also while I was president that Both shirts have Don Lance’s (lexical) map of US the scope of the Society should be widened. “Dia- dialects (well, the eastern half of the country at any lect” is an inclusive term and there are many rate) on the back of the shirt, and each is accompa- activities that are germane to a Dialect Society. . . nied by a handout (what else from a linguist!) which . The groups suggested were to deal with regional provides a brief biographical statement about the speech and localisms, place-names, non-English Pioneer honored on the front and full bibliographical dialects, semantics. These were adopted by the documentation to the dialect map on the back. Executive committee, and other groups were The background color for both shirts is something added later: linguistic geography, usage, new one might call ecru (although they are different words, and proverbial sayings. ecrus; one is probably actually “sand” and the other In that same piece, we also learn that Pound was maybe “mottled beige”). responsible for securing the publisher for the first Send your check for $20.00 (in U.S. currency) dialect dictionary of American English, made out to ADS to: Lori Dowdy, Department of Wentworth’s 1944 publication. In her “editor’s re- Linguistics and Languages, A-614 Wells Hall, flections,” reprinted in the same Fall-Winter 1975 Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824- issue noted above, Pound also tells us that she was 1027. often single-handedly responsible for filling the Enclose 1) Your return address and 2) Your shirt pages of the fledging AS, that she saw to its transfer choice and size: Grandgent XL (extra large only); to a new publishing site, and did all this, as she Pound XL and 2XL (extra large and double extra explains, while large only). I was teaching five university courses, some- Smaller ADSers report these make lovely sleep- times to between three hundred and fifty and four ing gear. hundred students, each likely to wish something Of course, except for packaging and postage fees, of me, and I had only an undergraduate student at it goes without saying that the profit from this under- thirty cents an hour as my typist. taking goes into the coffers of the Society.

12 / NADS 32.2 May 2000 FUTURE MEETINGS DSNA Deadline Dec. 1 NWAV Meets Oct. 5–8 Dec. 1 is the deadline for proposals for the Dictio- By the time you get this newsletter, the June 1 nary Society of North America’s biennial meeting in deadline for proposals will have passed. But it Ann Arbor May 6–9, 2001. Send them to the confer- should be noted that the conference most akin to ence organizer, Richard W. Bailey, at ADS itself, NWAV, for its 29th incarnation will take [email protected]. place Oct. 5–8 at the Kellogg Hotel & Conference The date is especially early this year because Center of Michigan State University. DSNA is celebrating the completion of the Middle Organizer of NWAV 29 is none other than ADS English Dictionary, nearly seventy years after it was vice president and program chair Dennis Preston. consolidated and begun at the University of Michi- For full information, see the conference website gan. Papers on historical dictionaries, the Middle http://nwav.lin.msu.edu or write Dept. of Linguistics English Dictionary, and the place of dictionaries in and Languages—NWAV, A 614 Wells Hall, Michi- future scholarship will therefore be especially wel- gan State University, East Lansing, MI 48824-1027. come, but there’s no restriction on topics. Registration, including some meals and Volume Since time immemorial, or at least since the 13 (2001) of the journal Language Variation and 1980s, ADS has affiliated itself with the DSNA Change, is $125, students $75 before Sept. 15. You meeting. Not only do we have much in common, but can register at the website or by writing Linda even the cast of characters is familiar. Hansen—NWAV, Arts and Letters, 201 Linton Hall, South Atlantic Region Michigan State University, East Lansing MI 48824. (Continued from Page 2) Workshops in statistical and acoustic analyses of Gullah, An American Creole” (20 min.). Cherry S. linguistic data will be offered Thursday. Harmond-Early, Cameron U. Each of the three days ends with a “Plenoquium”: 3. “The Cross-Cultural Interpretation of ‘Joking’ Thursday, Sociolinguistics and Linguistic Interaction, With Implications for a Theory of Con- Theory, organized by Gregory Guy, York U. Panel- text” (20 min.). Catherine E. Davies, U. of Ala- ists: Anthony Kroch, U. of Pennsylvania, and bama. Deborah Schiffrin, Georgetown U. 4. “Uncommon Ground(s): Communication, Ci- Friday: Sociolinguistics and the Social Sciences. vility, Justice” (20 min.). Thomas West, U. of South Organizer: Lesley Milroy, U. of Michigan. Panel- Alabama. ists: Judith Irvine, U. of Michigan; John Rickford, Executive Committee: Peter Patrick, U of Essex; Stanford U., and Penelope Eckert, Stanford U. Natalie Schilling-Estes, Georgetown U.; Guy Saturday: Applied Sociolinguistics. Organizer: Bailey, U. of Texas-San Antonio. Donna Christian, Center for Applied Linguistics. ADS Regional Secretary 1999–2000: Michael Panelists: John Baugh, Stanford U.; William Picone, Dept. of Romance Languages and Classics, Labov, U. of Pennsylvania; Walt Wolfram, North Univ. of Alabama, Box 870246, Tuscaloosa AL Carolina State U. 35406-0246; [email protected]. Another New Book Membership in SAMLA is $40 individual ($30 Graham Shorrocks. A Grammar of the Dialect first year), $25 student. Write SAMLA, Georgia of the Bolton Area. Part II: Morphology and Syntax. State Univ., University Plaza, Atlanta GA 30303- Frankfurt/M. : Europäischer Verlag der 3083; phone (404) 651-2693; www.samla.org; Wissenschaften, 1999. ISBN 3-631-34661-1, US [email protected]. ISBN 0-8204-4323-9. Paperback DM 89. Together Future meetings: 2001 Nov. 8–10 Atlanta, with Part I, this constitutes the fullest grammar of an Peachtree Plaza; 2002 Nov. 15–17 Baltimore, Omni English dialect published to date. The distinctive- Inner Harbor; 2003 Nov. 6–8 Atlanta, Marriott Mar- ness of the Bolton dialect suggests that grammatical quis; 2004 Nov. 12–14 Roanoke, Virginia, Hotel variation among English dialects has generally been Roanoke & Conference Center. underestimated by scholars.

NADS 32.2 May 2000 / 13 ACLS ANNUAL MEETING Hartman, Electronic Journals, Book Collecting, Serendipity By Joan Hall Teresa Sullivan painted the picture of a “Fran- As always, this spring’s meeting of the American chised University,” complete with mergers and ac- Council of Learned Societies was a mixture of stimu- quisitions, buying clubs, outsourcing, and eventu- lating presentations, inevitable business meetings, ally, McCollege. Her fear, based on her experience at sometimes quirky breakout sessions, and the always the University of Texas, Austin, is that humanists are fascinating Haskins Lecture, accompanied by excel- not being heard at the table where policy and direc- lent food at frequent intervals. This year’s venue, tional decisions are being made. however, provided a rare and wonderful treat: the Saturday’s public session centered on the Ameri- Haskins Lecture was held in the Library of Congress, can culture of collecting as an obsessive pastime. followed by an elegant reception in the magnificent From flea-marketeers to J. Pierpont Morgan, we Great Hall—an event unequalled in the half dozen seem to need to acquire voraciously if not judi- meetings I’ve attended over the last decade. What a ciously. Earlier collectors of books often gave them room! Not only is the Great Hall a stunning place to libraries; as our collecting tastes change from simply to be and to gaze at the interior marble and printed matter to other media, will our libraries, with the ornate ceilings, but the the Library staff gra- empty, unlighted windows, sail like ships without ciously opened several exhibits for the evening, in- passengers or crew, destination unknown? As collec- cluding the acclaimed display “American Trea- tions change, so must the relationships between the sures.” library, the librarian, and the scholar. These kinds of Wonderful as the setting was, it did not detract ideas were thoughtfully discussed by Neil Harris from the Haskins Lecture itself, this year delivered (), Anthony Grafton by literary critic and Judaic scholar Geoffrey (Princeton University), Deanna Marcum (Council on Hartman (Sterling Professor Emeritus at Yale Uni- Library and Information Resources), and Jean versity). His remarks took us from his boyhood de- Strouse (author of biographies of Alice James and J. light in words to his early career in which he attacked Pierpont Morgan). critical prose “as a pianist attacks his piano,” through Interesting as such discussions are, the parts of his growing interest in Judaic studies. When he ACLS meetings that I find the most energizing and sought to combine literary criticism and Biblical ex- gratifying are those that occur serendipitously: As egesis, he was denounced for “battering the literary one delegate lamented the fact that he had a collec- object.” A gradual sense of loss turned him toward tion of taped interviews of German Americans that studying the Holocaust, where he has pondered the no one wanted, Judith Gray of the Library of Con- relationship between words and wounds, noting, gress Folklife Division leapt to her feet, ecstatic to with irony, that we cure with words the wounds claim them. And at one morning’s breakfast, when words have made. we cajoled Dick Bailey to talk about his favorite One program session addressed the challenges of eccentric linguist, the murderous Edward Howard the electronic academy, asking such questions as, “If Rulloff, he talked wistfully of not having the pro- the role of a scholarly association is to produce a ceedings of the first meeting of the American Philo- journal, what happens to the association when the logical Association in July 1869, which was attended journal is published electronically with site licenses, by Rulloff. A tablemate, new to our acquaintance, and no one has to join to get the journal?” Is ADS just happened to be the executive director of the more than the sum of its journals? I suspect most of APA and remarked that he had an unpublished copy us would say “Yes!” But as Michael Grossberg of in his office. Connections. That’s what these meet- Indiana University argued, the fundamental prob- ings are all about. lems of e-publishing are not technical but intellec- Editor’s note: Bailey tells of Rulloff in his talk tual; they change the nature of the argument, provid- “Philological Eccentrics,” NADS 29.1 for January ing a “foundational moment” for scholars. 1997.

14 / NADS 32.2 May 2000 BOOKS BY ADS MEMBERS Our New Books: Women’s Health, Webster, Car Talk, Perceptual If you have recently published a book, send perti- with help from John Mahoney at Pigwidgeon Press, nent information to Executive Secretary Allan Ayers Cliff, Que., who published my Talking Coun- Metcalf (address on cover), and we’ll mention it try, is back in print through iUniverse.com and here. Barnes and Noble.” Dennis R. Preston, ed. Handbook of Perceptual Christine Ammer. The New A To Z Of Women’s Dialectology, Volume 1. John Benjamins, 2000. 412 Health: A Concise Encyclopedia, 4th edition. New pages. ISBN 1 55619 534 6 Hardcover $145. York: Facts on File (hardcover) $50; Checkmark Perceptual dialectology investigates what ordi- Books (paperback) $20. More than 1,000 authorita- nary people (as opposed to professional linguists) tive entries addressing the full range of women’s believe about the distribution of language varieties in health issues, including puberty, childbearing, infer- their own and surrounding speech communities and tility, autoimmune disorders, cancer, diet, exercise, how they have arrived at and implement those be- menopause, and treatments. liefs. It studies the beliefs of the common folk about Thomas M. Paikeday. The User’s Webster Dic- which dialects exist and, indeed, about what attitudes tionary. Toronto and New York: Lexicography, Inc. they have to these varieties. Some of this leads to ([email protected], phone (905) 371-2065), discussion of what they believe about language in 2000. xviii + 1262 pages. ISBN 0-920865-03-8. Pa- general, or “folk linguistics”. Volume 1 of this hand- perback $7.99 (Cdn $11.95). Order from University book provides: of Toronto Press Fulfillment Services, 5201 Dufferin – a historical survey; Street, North York, Ontario M3H 5T8, Canada; – a regional survey, adding to the earlier prepon- (800) 565-9523, fax (800) 221-9985, derance of studies in Japan, the Netherlands, and the [email protected]. United States; Paikeday’s distinctive dictionary defines words in – a methodological survey, showing, in detail, their typical contexts and provides examples of idi- how data have been acquired and processed; omatic usage. It has 90,000 entries, 80,000 illustra- – an interpretive survey, showing how these data tive phrases, and a simple “keyless” pronunciation have been related to both linguistic and other socio- system. For the benefit of learners as well as general cultural facts; users, it pays special attention to collocations. A – a comprehensive bibliography. 1990s database provided new vocabulary for this Contributions by: Dennis Preston; W.G. update of the author’s 1982 New York Times Every- Rensink; Jo Daan; Ludger Kremer; Takesi Sibata; day Dictionary. “If ever a dictionary was published Kikuo Nomoto; Yoshio Mase; Willem Grootaers; pro bono publico, this is it,” Paikeday declares. “All Antonius A. Weijnen; A.C.M. Goeman; Fumio rights to the dictionary are being offered to bona fide Inoue; Daniel Long; Jennifer Dailey-O’Cain; American publishers.” The paper cover and perfect Lawrence Kuiper; Mahide Demirci and Brian binding make it amazingly inexpensive, but also not Kleiner; Donald M. Lance; Laura Hartley; Nikolas very durable for the use it can be expected to get. Coupland, Angie Williams, and Peter Garrett. Sample entry: di.a.lect (DYE.uh.lect) n. a regionally or socially dis- Thomas Schönweitz. Geschlechtsspezifische tinct form of a language, esp. if nonstandard: In Southern Variation im Southern American English. Eine Georgian dialect, “I wouldn’t” becomes “Ah woon.” — soziolinguistische Auswerung der Daten des Lin- di.a.lec.tal (-lec.tul) adj. guistic Atlas of the Gulf States. [Gender-Related Lewis Poteet with Jim Poteet. Car Talk: A Lexi- Speech Differences in the Southern United States. con of Automobile and Motorcycle Slang. ABDO Evidence from the Linguistic Atlas of the Gulf Publishing Co. 192 pages. ISBN 155207000X. Pa- States]. Münster/Germany: LIT, 1999. ix + 779 perback $10.99 at Barnes&Noble.com. This 1997 pages. ISBN 3-8258-4300-9. Paperback DM 148.80 book, Poteet explains, “originally self-published, (roughly $ 75).

NADS 32.2 May 2000 / 15 DARE QUERIES Rutz Around in Your Rumpelkammer for DARE Skeesters DARE carries on! If you are familiar with any of rummage pickle—“mixed-vegetable relish.” We the following words or expressions, please let us have two examples of this, both from Massachusetts. know. It is most helpful if you can give an example rumpelkammer—“a storage closet, junk room.” or examples of how it is (or was) used, and as much We’re interested in evidence from places other than detail as possible about when, where, and by whom. Wisconsin. Address DARE Associate Editor Joan Hall at 6125 rutz around—“to rummage around.” We have a Helen White Hall, 600 N. Park St., Madison WI single report from Wisconsin. 53706, or by e-mail at [email protected]. shadow worm—“some kind of corn pest.” We pax-wax—“neck ligament of a cow; gristle.” have one Informant from Virginia. This word has many variants in English dialect, such shear crab—“crayfish.” We have two quotes, as pac-wax, packy-whack, paxy-waxy, and pise-wise; both from Pennsylvania. we have isolated U.S. quotes for the forms pack- sheep mustard—“some kind of edible green.” wack and patti-whack. Our evidence is from Kentucky. ploye—“a type of buckwheat pancake.” This is shine bone, shine ball—These terms were given supposed to be of French–Canadian origin and used by two southern DARE Informants in response to the in northern Maine. If you’ve heard it, please also “funny bone” question, and two LAGS informants indicate how it is pronounced. gave shine bone as the name of a hog bone which is, rock school, rock teacher, stone school—We according to one of them, boiled with greens. have a handful of Informants, mostly Black, who use show for—“look as if there will be,” as in “It these names for the game more commonly known as shows for a storm.” This idiom appears in English Chinese school, in which players sitting on steps try dialect, but our only U.S. evidence comes from a to guess which of the “teacher’s” hands holds a stone single DARE informant. and move up a step if they guess correctly. shuck—“to shift or slide about; to jog or rock roll and toss, roll and tumble, roll the bed— (something that is or might be loose or unsteady).” “toss and turn (in bed).” We have a scattering of What little evidence we have suggests that this verb, citations that suggest this is especially S. Midland. which goes back to English dialect, may be quite roller broom—“carpet sweeper.” We have a common in New England. single example from Chicago. skeester—“rascal, tyke.” Our only evidence is rotten egg—as the name of a game or as a call in South Atlantic. a game. (Please note that we’re not looking for more skeeve—“to disgust; to be disgusted by.” Appar- examples of the type “last one in is a rotten egg!”) ently from Italian schifare “to dislike, shun.” roly-poly—We have evidence for this as the slap in the back—“a children’s ring game” name of several quite different food items; we’d like (that’s all we know). to know when and where these different senses were slat—“to hit, slap (one).” Other verb senses, such used. as “to flap,” are fairly well attested, but we need ruffles, wrinkles—“chitterlings.” These are re- more information on this one, and the corresponding ported to be in recent use among Black speakers. noun sense, “a slap, blow with the hand.” ruling day(s)—“a day or series of days the weather of which is believed to prefigure the weather CORRECTION—The January Newsletter at some future time.” If you know the idea under (p. 5), reporting on our Words of the Years, some other name, we’d like to hear about that too failed to mention two failed candidates: “mil- (except for the widely-known groundhog day). lennium fatigue” got one vote for Word of the rumbled (up)—“jumbled, stirred up.” We have Year 1999, and “modern” got two votes for three Informants, from Georgia, Kentucky, and Word of the Century. With these additions, South Carolina. that report is correct for posterity.

16 / NADS 32.2 May 2000